


What's In A Name

by Nyanko



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Drabble, M/M, slightly crackish maybe, the name debate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-23
Updated: 2017-04-23
Packaged: 2018-10-23 02:19:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10710138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nyanko/pseuds/Nyanko
Summary: Viktor Nikiforov. 18 years old. Figure skating legend. 'Yes', Viktor thought, 'it has a nice ring to it'. Except…Or: Viktor wants his name to be more appealing to his international audience.





	What's In A Name

**Author's Note:**

> Short drabble I thought up, since we, as a fandom, still can't decide how to spell the main character's names. I wrote this in thirty minutes and didn't really edit it, so if you spot any errors, please feel free to drop a comment so I can fix it!

Viktor Nikiforov. 18 years old. Figure skating legend. _Yes_ , Viktor thought, _it has a nice ring to it_. Except…

Viktor regarded himself in the mirror. It was early morning and he was getting ready for practice, currently brushing his long, silver hair and mustering himself in the mirror. He was quite gorgeous, he wasn’t shy to admit, and already Russia’s darling. And yet, he wasn’t satisfied. He wanted to take the whole world by storm, achieving what no one else has before him. He would be a legend among figure skaters, among all athletes even! His goal was to surprise and captivate the audience, exciting everyone that watched him and making them crave more of him. He wasn’t quite there yet, but he knew, he _knew_ he would be. He would make history. Except…

Viktor Nikiforov was such a _boring_ name. Typically Russian, even though he was so much more than that. _Wanted_ so much more than that. _Maybe a stage name would be good_ , he mused as he pulled his hair into a low pony-tail so he could still comfortably wear a hat. Viktor was special, so his name needed to be special, _obviously_. No one would expect greatness from someone with a boring old name.

Pulling on his jacket and grabbing his skating gear, Viktor made his way to the rink. It was about a twenty-minute walk from his apartment, and surely he could come up with something wonderful in that time.

His name should hold international appeal, since he was, of course, planning on dominating the international figure skating scene. So something in English might be nice.

_~~Silver Flash~~_ ~~~~  
~~_Super Skater_~~  
~~_Living Legend_~~

But then again, he did already have quite the following. He wouldn’t want to alienate his fans by changing his name so drastically. What if they didn’t recognize him right away because of it? And, though Viktor was loath to admit it to himself, his ideas sounded quite juvenile so far. Maybe changing the spelling of his name would have the intended effect? As long as the pronunciation was similar enough, people should realize it’s him soon enough.

_~~Viktor Nikiforoff~~ _   
_~~Viktor Nickiforogh~~_   
_~~Viktor~~ Nik.E.forov_

That… didn’t sound so bad actually. It had something very modern to it. Unusual. Surprising. That would do nicely. But plain _Viktor_ would look stupid next to that.

_~~Wiktor~~_  
 _~~Vikthor~~_  
 _~~Wicktor~~_  
_Victor_

Like the English word for someone that won! Yes, definitely! From this day forward his name would be Victor Nik.E.forov!!

Victor smiled as he entered the rink and announced the new spelling of his name to his coach and rinkmates.

 

* * *

 

 

Victor Katsuki-Nikiforov. 29 years old. Figure skating legend. _Husband_. Roughly ten years later and Victor was quite glad that Yakov had talked him out of changing his last name, though he didn’t budge on his first one. He was fairly sure Yuri wouldn’t have agreed to a hyphenated name, if it would have been Katsuki-Nik.E.forov. Then again, Victor did have a gift for talking his darling husband into all sorts of things when he put his mind to it, but this, he wasn’t sure if he could have. Well, he would have been content to be Victor Katsuki, if Yuri wanted it, so really, it didn’t matter all that much.

And hearing his husband laugh, tears streaming down his face as Victor recounted the story of how he once wanted to be known a Victor Nik.E.forov was absolutely precious and he wouldn’t change it for the world.

“But wouldn’t you have liked to have posters signed Nik.E.forov? It’s quite classy, don’t you think?” Victor asked, amused. And just overall content because he was _married_ now. He grabbed Yuri’s hand in both of his and lifted it up to his face to give a loving kiss to his husband’s wedding band. Yuri blushed, but otherwise didn’t seem too perturbed, already used to the older man’s behavior.

“I love you, Victor Nik.E.forov,” he replied, rolling his eyes fondly. Victor could be so _extra_ sometimes.

 

Extra:

 

“Hey Yuri? How come you spell your name Yuri? Wouldn’t it be like a long ‘uuuuuuu’?” Victor asked, genuinely curious. He was still working on his Japanese, and the way _kanji_ translated into English letters fascinated him. Then again, everything about his beautiful, adorable husband fascinated him.

“Well, yes. I think technically it should be Yūri? Like, a line over the letter ‘u’? But it was annoying to type, especially when I was in Detroit and had to fill out many documents, because it’s not a letter on the keyboard and it confused a lot of people, so I just don’t bother with it. They’ll pronounce my name wrong anyway, so…” he shrugged.

“Why not spell it ‘Yuuri’ then? With two ‘u’s?”

Puzzled, Yuri turned to stare out the window to think. “I… guess I could? Most Japanese people wouldn’t do that though. It doesn’t really make a difference anyway. Do you dislike the way I spell my name, Nik.E.forov?” Yuri smirked and Victor pouted.

“Yuuuuuuriiiiiii! Will you ever let me live that down?!”

**Author's Note:**

> Personally, I respect the creators of Yuri!!! on Ice and since they put the offical spellings as "Victor Nikiforov" and "Yuri Katsuki" I don't really understand why we are even debating this. I don't get to decide how you spell your name, your parents did, right? Also, like Victor, the way my name is spelled is not 100% culturally approriate to where I come from, but my parents said "fuck it, I like it better like this" and I've learned to live with it. And like Yuri, I also have a letter in my name that is not usually on the keyboard, so I just don't bother. I write it the correct way in handwriting, but other than that? Nah, dude.  
> Also, I've lived in Japan for a year and you wouldn't believe how some people romanized their names. It's ridiculous. 
> 
> Oh, also, I'm aware it's not the "English alphabet", but that "roman alphabet", but I don't see Victor making that distinction, so...


End file.
